It is very easy to develop a problem of dry socket, especially after you’ve had a tooth removed or a root canal or any other serious visit to the dentist. While not extremely hazardous to our body’s health, dry socket causes a world of pain which is next to impossible to bear.

This excess pain in its turn leads to other problems like nausea, fever and so on. Thus though dry socket doesn’t require any treatment one should always try their best to avoid it and one can’t help but try and get the pain under control.

This excruciating pain caused by dry sockets can shockingly not be treated by over the counter drugs alone. The most effective treatment for dry sockets is using clove oil. Dentists prefer calling it eugenol, making it sound more like a medicine than some home remedy as simple as clove oil. This is the best home remedy for dry sockets that there is. Here is a list of home remedies to treat and control the pain caused by dry sockets.

Effective Home Remedies For Dry Socket

Clove Oil

The first step in clove oil treatment of dry sockets is procuring the oil. You can go to any pharmacy and buy clove oil or if you are unable to find that you can buy one of those toothache relief kits. They are bound to have a bottle of eugenol in them! If you get the clove oil you have to be a hundred percent sure that it is not just regular oil in clove fragrance blend but clove essential oil.

However if you prefer to do everything at home then you can prepare your very own clove oil at home too! Just grind a few pieces of clove with a mortar and pestle or in a mixer till it becomes a powder. Now add cooking oil like olive oil or vegetable oil to this powder too make it a paste and voila! Your homemade clove remedy is ready to be used.The next step of this treatment involves using the above brought or prepared clove oil. Before you apply the oil onto the affected area it is of utmost importance that you clean it up first. To do this you have to make a warm salt water rinse. Boil some water in a pan and add salt to it. Let it cool down a bit and then pour some of it in your mouth.

Gently swirl it around before letting it trickle out. You must not spit it all out at once, as that will aggravate your pain considerably. Now repeat the procedure till your cup of water gets finished. You may also use diluted Listerine or any other mouthwash. Now take a cotton swab and soak it with a few drops of the clove oil or paste.Now apply it to the affected area gently. The oil will sting at first but you just need to wait it out. The pain is bound to vanish completely! Clove oil is horrible to taste so when cleaning it off use olive oil or some other cooking oil because water will spread it everywhere.

Cold Ice Packs

The age old home remedy for pain is ice packs. If your pain is mildly irritating and not life threateningly bad, you need not go through all the hassle of using clove oil. You can simply keep an ice pack pressed against your jaw. The chill of the ice will numb the area and serve as anaesthesia. It will also decrease any swelling that may have arisen.

Packing Your Teeth

If somehow dabbing your gums and the affected area doesn’t work out you need to take the next more severe step. You need to pack the area of the dry socket. This step must be your last resort. Try holding the cotton swab in place for 10-15 minutes. If you feel no relief despite that, then you can go ahead. Take a tiny strip of gauze. Make sure it is not too big because you are going to have to push it in the hole. Now soak the gauze with water and squeeze to rid it off any extra moisture.

Once you are done add a few drops of clove oil to it. Now mash it and make it a small ball. Press this ball against your tooth so that it fills up the hole. It will hurt like hell at first but you have to push it as far in as possible. You will have to bear the extra pain just for a few seconds before the oil kicks in. This treatment is bound to rid you off your pain. However make sure that you remove the packing within 48 hours. If the gauze stays in its place any longer it will cause other more severe problems.

No To Tobacco

You should not smoke or use tobacco in any form after you have had a molar or a wisdom tooth extracted. Smoking not only increases the chances of you getting dry socket but also increases the pain caused by it.

Staying Hydrated

Staying hydrated is also extremely vital at this time. Drinking excess water flushes out unwanted toxins from your body. It prevents the nausea and fever which the excess pain might cause. Rinsing your mouth with salt water as regularly as possible is also helpful. Sometimes the pain is caused by bits of food stuck in your gums.

Rinsing with water dislodges and removes these pieces. However make sure that you don’t spit while rinsing but let the water out gently. Spitting will aggravate your pain rather than relieving it.

Brushing

As mentioned earlier sometimes the pain is caused by bits of food stuck to your gums. So brush the affected area regularly. Needless to mention you must be gentle in this action for the dry socket area is bound to be a bit swollen and very sensitive.

Dry socket may worry you very much when the first bouts of pain appear. But the important thing is to remain calm and stoic and bear the pain for long enough to get that cotton swab dipped in clove oil inside your mouth.